Lee Child tops ALIA most borrowed list; crime and thrillers most popular titles

22 May 2017 Books+Publishing

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has partnered with library provider Civica to compile a list of most borrowed books from Australian libraries from May 2016 to April 2017, with crime and thrillers representing three quarters of the most-borrowed titles, led by Lee Child’s Make Me (Lee Child, Bantam).

The findings, which were published to coincide with this year’s Library and Information Week from 22-28 May, are based on libraries that use Civica’s Spydus management system.

International authors made up 18 of the top 20 most borrowed books, with multiple entries for Child, Michael Connelly, James Patterson and David Baldacci. Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s The 65 Storey Treehouse (Pan) and Magda Szubanski’s Reckoning (Text) were the only local titles on the top 20 list.

Civica libraries and education solutions managing director Simon Jones said the rise in digital technology is influencing reading habits. ‘Many of our library customers tell us that readers are increasingly using technology to find, read and share information, whether it’s to research a topic or discover a new book—it’s now just a click away,’ said Jones. ‘This provides library members with far greater opportunities to discover new interests and media, whether it be via books, music, TV or films.’

The most borrowed titles in each category are:

Most borrowed books

Make Me (Lee Child, Bantam)
The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins, Black Swan)
Personal (Lee Child, Bantam)
The Crossing (Michael Connelly, A&U)
Rogue Lawyer (John Grisham, Hodder & Stoughton)
15th Affair (James Patterson, Random House)
The Last Mile (David Baldacci, Pan Macmillan)
Private Paris (James Patterson, Random House)
The Obsession (Nora Roberts, Little, Brown)
Memory Man (David Baldacci, Pan Macmillan)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
Cometh The Hour (Jeffrey Archer, Pan Macmillan)
The 65 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
NYPD Red 4 (James Patterson, Random House)
Alert (James Patterson, Random House)
The Burning Room (Michael Connelly, A&U)
Reckoning (Magda Szubanski, Text)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
Never Go Back (Lee Child, Bantam)

Most borrowed Australian fiction

Rain Music (Di Morrissey, Pan Macmillan)
Spirits of the Ghan (Judy Nunn, Random House)
Truly Madly Guilty (Liane Moriarty, Pan Macmillan)
The 65 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
The Dry (Jane Harper, Macmillan)
The Road Back (Di Morrissey, Pan Macmillan)
Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty, Pan Macmillan)
The Rosie Effect (Graeme Simsion, Text)
The Dressmaker (Rosalie Ham, Duffy & Snellgrove)
The 39 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
The Narrow Road To The Deep North (Richard Flanagan, Vintage)
The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion, Text)
The 52 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
The Lakehouse (Kate Morton, A&U)
The Natural Way Of Things (Charlotte Wood, A&U)
Indigo Storm (Fleur McDonald, A&U)
The Light between Oceans (M L Stedman, Random House)
The Husbands Secret (Liane Moriarty, Pan Macmillan)
The Woman Next Door (Liz Byrski, Pan Macmillan)
Elianne (Judy Nunn, Random House)

Most borrowed nonfiction

Reckoning (Magda Szubanski, Text)
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Marie Kondo, Vermillion)
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island (Bill Bryson, Transworld)
Everywhere I Look (Helen Garner, Text)
The Road To Ruin (Niki Savva, Scribe)
Guinness World Records 2016 (Guinness)
I Quit Sugar (Sarah Wilson, Macmillan)
Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art Of Tidying (Marie Kondo, Vermillion)
The Happiest Refugee (Anh Do, Scholastic)
Flesh Wounds (Richard Glover, HarperCollins)

Most borrowed biography

Reckoning (Magda Szubanski, Text)
Everywhere I Look (Helen Garner, Text)
The Happiest Refugee (Anh Do, Scholastic)
Flesh Wounds (Richard Glover, HarperCollins)
Island Home: A Landscape Memoir (Tim Winton, Penguin)
When Breath becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi, Vintage)
This House of Grief (Helen Garner, Text)
One Life: My Mother’s Story (Kate Grenville, Text)
The Road To Ruin (Niki Savva, Scribe)
I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai, Indigo)

Most borrowed by picture books

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle, Puffin)
Pig the Pug (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic)
Where Is the Green Sheep (Mem Fox, Penguin)
Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak, Red Fox)
Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas (Aaron Blabey, Scholastic)
The Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson, Macmillan)
Maisy Goes to London (Lucy Cousins, Walker Books)
Are We There Yet? A Journey around Australia (Alison Lester, Viking)
Too Many Elephants in This House (Ursula Dubosarsky, Puffin)
Scary Night (Lesley Gibbes, Working Title)

Most borrowed by juniors (0-12)

The 65 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
The 39 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
The 26 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
The 52 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
The 13 Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)

Most borrowed by young adults (13-18)

The Fault in our Stars (John Green, Penguin)
Paper Towns (John Green, Penguin)
The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey, Puffin)
Divergent (Veronica Roth, HarperCollins)
Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto, Viz)
Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix (J K Rowling, Bloomsbury)
The Maze Runner (James Dashner, Chicken House)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J K Rowling, Bloomsbury)
Looking for Alaska (John Green, Penguin)
City of Bones (Cassandra Clare, Walker).

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